Crown and Country: 2012), but It Is Not a Generic Term Applied Across Aboriginal Nations to Describe Creationism
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Crown and Country: 2012), but it is not a generic term applied across Aboriginal Nations to describe creationism. Negotiating the One Space The term, ‘Country’ is used by Aboriginal Peoples as an expression and identifier that embodies the relationship with ancestral homelands and the multi-layered relationships with mob, kin community, spirits, foods, language, animals, songs, stories and ceremonial places that belong to those homelands. Essentially, ‘Country’ links to everything that upholds Aboriginal Mr Greg Kitson Emeritus Professor Darryl Low Choy Dr Silvia Serrao-Neumann Peoples and culture (Gammage 2012, New South Wales Government 2018). Aboriginal culture permits that ‘Country’ is to Cities Research Institute School of Environment School of Social Sciences be loved, needed, nourished and nurtured in its central role to guide continuation of the Dreaming. In return, ‘Country’ loves, Griffith University Griffith University The University of Waikato needs, nourishes and nurtures Aboriginal Peoples and communities and all other living things (Kwaymullina 2005). Queensland, Australia Queensland, Australia Hamilton, New Zealand [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Quandamooka ‘Country’ is located in South East Queensland (SEQ). It possesses traditional boundaries that extend from the mouth of the Brisbane River then north-east to Mulgumpin (Moreton Island), south past Minjerribah (Stradbroke Professor David Jones Island) to Southport (Gold Coast) then north along the mainland coast to the mouth of the Brisbane River, taking all the Faculty of Science, Engineering & Built Environment southern bay islands and a small ribbon of coastal land. Since the beginning of Quandamooka Dreaming, the Quandamooka Deakin University Peoples have understood their sovereignty, ancestral boundaries and practiced their distinct culture which is indelibly Victoria, Australia linked to an obligation to ‘Country’, which underpins a system of cultural knowledge and values to sustainably manage, [email protected] adapt and exist in the environment (QYAC 2017), a blueprint for ‘Aboriginal community planning’. This blueprint pre- dates any modernised version of sustainability principles and has remained unchanged in the spirit and minds of the Quandamooka Peoples, who are the Nughi of Mulgumpin and the Nunukul and Goenpul of Minjerribah (Peacock 2002). The concept of ‘Country’ is central to Aboriginal culture and has sustained the Quandamooka Peoples (the Quandamooka) of South East Queensland (SEQ) for 40,000 years. On 4 July Today, the three clans are attempting to continue to practice traditional culture and the management of lands and waters 2011, the Federal Court of Australia determined that 54,500ha of exclusive and non-exclusive throughout the Quandamooka estate within the modern collaborative planning paradigm. However, current Quandamooka Native Title rights over land and waters, occupied continuously and managed sustainably by co-management of their lands and waters with various governments has come at considerable cost and at the behest of a the Quandamooka Peoples, be legally vested in these Peoples. This formal recognition, of tenure Eurocentric land use planning system which is not yet fully appreciative of Aboriginal Peoples traditional obligations to under Australian law, marked an important milestone for the Quandamooka, and offered ‘Country’ and cultural values systems (Cole-Hawthorne, Jones et al. 2015). Under representation of Aboriginal values the opportunity to re-assert Quandamooka lore, customs, culture and sovereignty, over these systems in land use planning systems is exacerbated further when Aboriginal traditional owners (TOs) commence lands and water, which are pillars to the concept of ‘Country’. Today, two Indigenous Land Use their navigations of the Australian planning systems with little knowledge or experience in the field and through under Agreements (ILUAs) operate in Quandamooka lands and waters, assisting parties to negotiate representation as a major stakeholder. future actions through a complex multi-layered planning system, all of which affect ‘Country’. Achieving these outcomes may require the incorporation of ‘Country’, as a traditional planning The ability for Aboriginal communities to participate in land use planning matters is again threatened by requests to surrender framework, into this Eurocentric planning system. Thus, embedding Quandamooka recognised native title rights by extinguishment (even without an approved claim) and forego any longer term economic benefits (Sanders title rights and interests into conventional local land use planning frameworks to align and 2016) or by discriminatory policy which threatens to close down remote communities which are deemed by government maximise land use planning outcomes that benefits the local community, particularly Traditional intellect as merely a subsidised ‘lifestyle choice’, as described in 2015 by then Prime Minster Tony Abbott (Griffiths 2017). Owner groups. In a narrative summary, this paper examines and reviews the major land title transitions of Quandamooka ‘Country’ and identifies a possible role that ‘Country’ can play in This paper seeks to demarcate major transition periods in relation to Quandamooka Peoples rights to manage lands and innovating a new way of addressing Indigenous values of ‘Country’ in the Australian planning waters and current efforts to restore these rights. Examples are given which demonstrate how the concept of ‘Country’ can system. be incorporated into land use planning and suggests future options to increase inclusion and appreciation of Aboriginal community planning values in the planning discipline. Keywords — Country; Quandamooka; land use planning. METHODS This research is part of an ARC Linkage project entitled ‘Being On Country, Off Country’ (LP150100379). The INTRODUCTION overarching aim of this project is to validate and value the relationships with ‘Country’ for unique urban and peri-urban Aboriginal populations. This research has a regional level focus on Aboriginal Peoples residing in the urban and peri- In Australia, the pan-Aboriginal philosophy for existence is a world away from Eurocentric mindsets and is understood urban footprint of SEQ. In comparison to rural and remote Aboriginal communities, the SEQ region is chosen for its through ‘The Dreaming’, which itself is a vague non-Aboriginal term that may diminish the core theme of a traditional based significant urban Aboriginal population in terms of the rapid growth and diverse contemporary Aboriginal mixed-resident Aboriginal reality (Hume 2002). Under this philosophy, in the beginning, the spiritual ancestors created all landscapes, community. As one of three Aboriginal TO groups with recognised native title rights in SEQ, the Quandamooka Peoples animals, Peoples and knowledges which are connected through a multi-layered network of reciprocal relationships. The were chosen as a case study due to their unique geographic location and significant levels of land use planning activity Dreaming is holistic, forever in time and the land is part of the Peoples and Peoples are part of the land (Weir, Jstor et al. and organisational ability of the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation (QYAC), which is the Registered 208208 REMAKING CITIES CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS 2018 209209 Native Title Prescribed Body Corporate (RNTBC) of the Quandamooka Peoples. Recent participation observations at the QYAC Land and Sea Management Committee are included to supplement the narrative. In the beginning, the Dreaming’s of the creator spirits -- Kabool (the carpet snake) and Buangan (the dolphin) – created the landscapes of Mulgumpin, Minjerribah, smaller scattered islands and southern Moreton Bay for the Quandamooka To demarcate major transition periods in relation to Quandamooka Peoples rights to manage traditional lands and Peoples, comprising their land and sea estate (Martin and Mirraboopa 2003). Quandamooka ‘Country’ is illustrated using waters, three images are provided to assist visualisation and understanding of the land use management associated with a satellite image at Figure 1 and sketch at Figure 2. the three selected transition periods. As an attempt to complement Indigenous research methodologies and the need to maximise Aboriginal views in research about planning in Aboriginal communities, the first transition period literature After creation, the famous Quandamooka poet, Oodgeroo Noonuccal asserted, derives only from Quandamooka oral history or scholarly publications by a Quandamooka descendant. The second and third transition periods incorporates both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal literature. “… he (the creator) then gave our ancestors knowledge to pass on through learned and natural expression the ways and means of existence without having to defeat his gifts.” The first transition period provides a very brief account of the original system of sustainable land use planning and (Martin and Mirraboopa 2003) management of the Quandamooka estate. The second transition period briefly describes the systematic removal of Quandamooka rights to lands and waters and the imposed Eurocentric and extraction focused land use planning and This assertion grounds the existing values system and reciprocal relationship between Quandamooka ‘Country’ and the resource management objectives of the British. The third transition period summarises the Quandamooka Peoples Quandamooka Peoples and includes the laws to be adhered